A German data protection authority is “unliking” Facebook’s “Like” button.

The state of Schleswig-Holstein’s data protection commissioner, Thilo Weichert, has ordered state institutions to shut down the fan pages on the social networking site and remove the “Like” button from their websites, saying it leads to profiling that violates German and European law.

Facebook insisted that it is in full compliance with European data protection laws.

Today, Mr Weichert issued a statement saying technical analysis by his office shows the California-based Facebook violated German and European data protection laws by passing content data to the social network’s servers in the US.

“Whoever visits facebook.com or uses a plug-in must expect that he or she will be tracked by the company for two years,” Mr Weichert said.

“Facebook builds a broad individual and for members even a personalised profile.”

A Facebook spokesman conceded that the company can see “information such as the IP address” of users who visit a site with a “Like” button.

“We delete this technical data within 90 days,” said the spokesman, who did not give his name in keeping with company policy.

“That is in keeping with normal industry standards.”

Mr Weichert’s office ordered website owners in Schleswig-Holstein to “immediately stop the passing on of user data to Facebook in the US by deactivating the respective services” and threatened to take legal action if they fail to comply.